How to make a DIY felt succulent plant
I am literally the worst when it comes to taking care of plants. Despite having a mom who has the greenest thumb around (I literally have childhood memories of neighbors and relatives talking about her incredible ability to save plants from the brink of death), I just can’t seem to shake my black thumb. Luckily, I can craft like nobody’s business. Besides, do you really need an excuse to make a felt succulent? They are completely adorable!
It’s important to use a great pair of scissors when cutting felt because it is a really thick material to work with. I loved using the Fiskars fabric sheers on this project because it cut through the felt effortlessly and made the whole project come together super fast.
-Lisa Rios
WHAT TO GET:
Wool felt sheet in your favorite shade of green
Hot glue gun + glue sticks (not pictured)
WHAT TO DO:
1. Using your Fiskars fabric sheers, cut out the following from your felt:
6 x squares (approx. 2×2”)
8 x smaller squares (approx. 1.5×1.5”)
As with most things, I eyeballed the squares but you can also use a ruler to cut out exact measurements if you’d like.
2. Cut the larger squares into leaf shapes and the smaller squares into triangles. Again, I didn’t use a template, but you can draw a template on the matte side of freezer paper and iron the shiny side down on to your felt before you cut out your shapes.
3. Place a dab of hot glue toward the bottom 1/3 of a small triangle and carefully press the floral wire down to adhere.
4. Fold the two bottom corners of the triangle in toward the center and glue.
5. Glue a second triangle across from the first.
6. Continue gluing triangles around the wire. It helps to stop after each triangle and reassess where you’d like to glue the next to fill in all the spaces.
7. Glue the larger leaf shapes around the wire in the same manner as step 6 above.
And that’s it; you now have a beautiful “forever” succulent! You can experiment with different felt shapes and colors to achieve different looks. To arrange them in a little terracotta pot as pictured, make sure that you place a piece of foam inside the pot, and cut down the length of the wire. After you’ve arranged the succulents by sticking the wire stems in to the foam, stuff some dried moss inside the pot to cover the foam and fill in any gaps.
About Lisa:
“If you had asked my 12-year-old self what I wanted to be when I grow up, I probably would have had a perfectly sensible answer. Like a circus trapeze artist or an outer space explorer. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would craft for a living. But fast-forward 20 years and I’m the owner of The Makery, a walk-in craft studio located in Anaheim. In addition to teaching and organizing local creative workshops, planning craft parties and designing handmade craft kits, I also design for Whimsy and Ink, the handmade biz I share with my rad hubby. My work has been featured in Real Simple, Brides Magazine, Bust, The Huffington Post, Orange Coast Magazine, Sunset Magazine, in Etsy’s Featured Sellers series, and in my mom’s emails to Grandma.”
